Everbread, the company behind the Haystack airfare search and pricing engine, sees the Google-ITA Software deal as good for the industry as it will encourage players to focus more on improving technology and traveler experience 'as opposed to backroom dealing, exclusive contracts, and closed-channel strategies that have been dominant for so long'.

Said the company, "When technological innovation and user experience replace data hording and exclusive contracts as the standard business practices in travel, the consumers will win, and so will the companies that innovate."

It added, "Despite Google's dominance in the online advertising business, other Google product lines have not squeezed or eliminated competition.

"Quite the opposite: they have increased the quality and experience of the consumers. And if there is an industry that needs shaking up, it is definitely travel."

Reiterating its belief that "when markets function properly and companies deliver innovation and convenience to consumers, then everyone wins", it said that by integrating different sources of travel information and providing quick and accurate real time schedules, pricing and availability, Haystack helps users find more and cheaper ways to travel.

"One of Haystack's strengths is its ability to search in multiple perspectives - answering questions like "Where might I fly within seven hours for a given fare?" Haystack does this and other non-linear searches natively in real-time and provides more accurate results, with more options for convenience at an affordable cost. We believe that this is how to do business."

See article on Haystack this week:

www.webintravel.com/detail.php?c=44&desc=WITfeed&p=115&t=haystack_out_to_find_the_true_needle_in_search_115

Note: Everbread's CEO is Morten Lund (above), the "archangel" investor, start-up ideologist and visionary, who will be speaking at the WITovation Entrepreneur Bootcamp and will be among the panel of investor judges at the WIT Conference in October.